


Bug Hunt!!!

by Never_Eat_Sour_Wheat



Series: Slice of Life Smile For Me [3]
Category: Smile For Me (Video Game)
Genre: Bugs & Insects, Family Bonding, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Post-Canon, references to bad parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 08:43:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20005498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Never_Eat_Sour_Wheat/pseuds/Never_Eat_Sour_Wheat
Summary: Parsley finally has a break from his busy schedule, and he's going to spend the time with Putunia in a way that he really hopes she'll enjoy.





	Bug Hunt!!!

**Author's Note:**

> My boyfriend and I have an entire little universe for post canon Smile For Me and that includes various Habiticians adopting the kids because...well if they showed up without parents it probably isn't a great relationship. These two just kinda happened and we think it's cute, so here it is! Also, these two are completely platonic. I really shouldn't have to say shit like that but some shit went down in the comments of some of the Habiticians wikis. Don't be gross or I'll bash you with a lead pipe.

“Paaaaarsley!!! Wake up!!!” Parsley groaned and rolled over in his bed. Something barreled into his chest and knocked the air out of him. He looked down at the little missile and was unsurprised to find Putunia had launched herself at him. She was giggling and poking at his stomach. He rolled his eyes but couldn’t help smiling a little. “Are you awake yet?”

“Yup. You finished your first mission of the day.” He said, sounding deadpan. Putunia just grinned and hopped off his bed again. “What time is it?” He asked, mostly to himself. Putunia just shrugged so he checked the alarm clock on his nightstand. 8 am. A little later than she usually woke him up. 

He flopped onto the bed again, and took a moment to wonder when life with Putunia had become normal. It was about a year after the Habitat now, so about a year after they had met. She had been scared to go home, and clung to the only adult that had been around the carnival while she was there, and that just so happened to be him. At first he was just willing to hand her over to her parents but...when she fell asleep in his car when he drove her home, something in him softened. It hadn’t been that hard to get custody actually, which was a little sad. Still, it was a good decision. “Are you coming?” Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, just a sec.” 

“Good, cuz I want pancakes!” Putunia yelled. He laughed and rolled out of bed. 

“You know how I am with food, but I’ll try my best.” He called after her as she raced down the stairs. Unfortunately, he had sort of inherited his dad’s “talent” for food. At least he actually used real ingredients, even if he didn’t use them right. He rubbed at his eyes as he slowly made his way downstairs. Putunia has pulled a stool over to the counter and was standing on it to reach said counter. “Whatcha doing?”

“I wanna help make the pancakes!” She yelled. Parsley sighed. He’d probably set them on fire anyways, so what did it matter that the batter wouldn’t be edible? He nodded. “Pancakes!!!” She shrieked and Parsley slammed his hands over his ears. “Oops...sorry.” He chuckled and ruffled her hair. 

“It’s ok, don’t worry about it.”

* * *

He burned the pancakes, which wasn’t surprising at all. The batter was way too lumpy and it probably would’ve been bad for Putunia to eat as many chocolate chips as she had insisted on putting in. Cereal was just as good anyways, and Putunia made sure to tell him that too. He had felt a little bad about burning them after all. It was one of his few days off. With his studying to become a teacher and her own school they didn’t actually get to spend a whole lot of time together. Of course there had been the two months when she had first moved in when they had really bonded, but that was ages ago. Parsley just thanked the powers that be that he had enough money set aside that he didn’t have to work on top of it all. 

“What’s the plan captain?” Putunia asked after they had finished up breakfast. 

“Well, we’ve got to get dressed first. We’re going out!” Parsley said, pointing dramatically in the air. Putunia gasped and raced for the stairs to get to her room. Parsley laughed and followed behind her at a slower pace. “Oh, and don’t worry about baths, we can do that after.” Putunia gasped again, even bigger this time.

“We’re gunna get dirty!” She cheered and raced into her room. Parsley chuckled and quickly changed. Just some jeans and an old t-shirt, nothing fancy today. He had just finished up when Putunia came wandering into his room, her head stuck in the arm hole of her shirt. “I may...need some help.” Parsley laughed and carefully pulled her head out of the hole. 

“Need anything else?” He asked as she fixed the shirt. 

“Nope!” She ran back into her room, presumably for socks, and Parsley chuckled some more to himself. She emerged a moment later, and matched down the stairs, him right behind. “So, where are we going captain?” 

“Around the block, but we’re going to do something special while we’re out. I’ve gotta grab something for our adventure real quick.” He replied. “Go ahead and put your shoes on.” She gave him a salute and went off to the foyer. Parsley stopped by his little office and grabbed a clipboard with a bright red piece of construction paper on it. When he came back into the foyer Putunia was standing there with her shoes on, but the laces knotted in such a way that they would likely take hours to untie. Parsley sighed, but perked up when she tried to grab for the clipboard. “Nope! For now, your mission is a secret.” She whined, but he just smiled at her. “You’ll find out soon enough. Now c’mon, we’ve gotta get out of the house to get started.” Putunia nodded and pulled the door open to walk out into the bright sunshine.

Parsley let her lead the way for a while, just wandering around. Past some of the other Habiticians’ houses, past a couple of other neighbors’ houses, just around. Eventually Putunia seemed to get impatient.

“Are we really just walking around? This isn’t very fun.” She said, obviously trying not to whine. Parsley grinned and knelt down to show her what was on the clipboard. It was a hand drawn chart with a couple of different types of bugs written off to the side. Stuff like “spider”, “ants” and “ladybugs”. Putunia’s eyes light up. 

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find as many of these bugs as you can. Once we’ve sourd the neighborhood, we can walk downtown for lunch and check the park.” Parsley said. Putunia carefully took the clipboard and looked it up and down. “You ready?” She threw her hands in the air, effectively throwing the clipboard. It almost hit Parsley in the face but he managed to avoid it. 

“Yeah!!! Let’s go!” And just like that she was off like a shot, stopping at every bit of grass to look around. Parsley chuckled and picked up the clipboard again before following her.

* * *

“Alright, it’s time for a lunch meeting.” Parsley said, shoving his plate aside to set the clipboard down in the middle of the table. They had walked downtown, stopping at every bit of grass to look for any bugs they could find. They were currently sitting in a little cafe, eating their lunch. Mac n’ cheese for Putunia and a PB&J for Parsley. Childish, but filling and effective. Putunia shoved her bowl away too. They both looked over the clipboard. “So far, we’ve found five spiders, over twenty ants, eleven ladybugs, and two mosquitos. Not a bad haul!”

“And you only screamed about the first spider!” Putuina pointed out, giggling. Parsley rolled his eyes and reached over to tossle her hair. 

“Hurry up and finish, we’ve still got the park to check out.” He said, returning to his own sandwich. After a few minutes Putunia tried to speak, but she was midbite of food. “Swallow first kid, geez. The last thing we want is you choking.” Putunia nodded and swallowed.

“Can we look for some jars to put some bugs in? I wanna take one home.” She said. Parsley nodded without thinking, and then winced as he realized what he had agreed too. A pet bug was...well, he could deal with it as long as it stayed in Putunia’s room. 

“We’ll look for some jars somewhere. There’s the raw honey place down the street, they might have some empty ones.” He said. Putunia grinned and began to wolf down her food. Parsley laughed. It wasn’t long until they were finished and they exited the cafe. Putunia stayed outside the raw honey shop, keeping an eye out for bees to add to the list while Parsley managed to convince the confused cashier to give him an empty mason jar. He grabbed a napkin to use as a cover that they could poke holes in. It probably wasn’t the best plan, but he wouldn’t be completely against whatever bug Putunia chose getting away. 

They headed to the park and decided to split up to try and find as many bugs as they possibly could. Putunia took the jar after Parsley explained how to catch a bug properly and he took the clipboard to write down any more he found. He fully expected Putunia to lose interest after a while and play on the playgrounds instead, but every time he glanced in her direction she still had her face low in the grass or looking into a bush. It warmed his heart that he had managed to pick something that made her this happy. 

It was beginning to get closer to dusk when he finally heard her shriek.

“Putunia! Are you okay?” He rushed to her side, and found that she was beaming at him, holding up the mason jar. Inside was a little rolly polly bug, curled up a little. He smiled back at her, glad that this was the one she had gone for. If she had picked a spider, he didn’t know what he would’ve done. “Great job honey!” They both froze up for a second. Sure, he had been her legal guardian for almost a year, but they had never discussed this sort of thing. 

But she just grinned even wider.

“Thanks dad!” She said. Parsley felt a little like he was going to cry and he scooped her up in a hug. “Be careful! I don’t wanna lose Rodar!” 

“Is that your new pal’s name? It’s a good one.” He said, and started walking back towards their house, Putunia still in his arms. 

“Yup! Thanks for taking me out and doing fun stuff today dad.”

“No problem hon.”


End file.
